nortel symposium express call center technical

Nortel Networks

Symposium Express Call Center Feature Guide

Customer relationships start here

Table of contentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Symposium Express Call Center 4.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Multiple call treatment classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Management and call handling features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Skill-based routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Call presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Contact center data import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Call processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The process of call routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Skill-based agent selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Call queuing versatility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Priority assignments for calls and agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Call treatment and routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Voice services treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Expected wait time and position in queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Real-time displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Call prioritization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Report generation and configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Meridian 1 and Succession 1000 switch configuration parser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Report samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Introduction

What is a contact center?Call centers have changed dramaticallyover the last few years. Once an environ-ment designed to process telephone calls,call centers have evolved to becomecustomer contact centers, processing alltypes of media transactions. The contactcenter is now seen as the core of a businessdue to its critical role in maximizingcustomer retention by enabling companiesto deliver a definitive customer experience.

Its integral parts consist of:

• Representatives who handle customertransactions (also called agents)

• Management personnel

• Technology to handle customer transac-tions, including the routing, treatment,and fulfilment of the transaction

A contact center may be found within adepartment in a company or it may be the sole business unit that comprises thecompany. Regardless of the size andcomplexity of the contact center, itsobjectives and goals remain consistent:

• To deliver customer satisfaction throughprompt, consistent, professional transac-tion handling

• To help staff work more productively

• To increase profitability and enhancecustomer loyalty

• To control costs by using resources andtechnology more efficiently

Whether your customers are purchasingproducts, requesting services, or seekinginformation, your contact center must beequipped with technology that delivers thetimely and quality service your customersexpect.

Contact center technologyContact centers require technology that is high performance, integrated, openstandards-based, and client-server oriented to facilitate the increasingly important role they play in business. Frequently thecontact center is the primary point ofcommunication a company has with itscustomers; therefore, technology to enhancecustomer relationships is of utmost impor-tance to contact center management.

The challenge of management is to find an ideal balance between staffing prioritiesand budget controls to deliver superiorcustomer service. Implementing technologysuch as computer telephony integrationand client-server computing and applyingemphasis on call routing applications andagent empowerment are key componentsto ensuring each caller is served quicklyand effectively.

Integrating the routing and processing ofincoming calls and accompanying datacreates the ability to satisfy as many of acaller’s needs as possible during the initialcontact with the contact center. Thiscombination of technology and businessprocedures to enhance customer satisfactionand retention is a driving factor in thecompetitive world of contact centers.

Key to this integration is client-servercomputing, which empowers contact centersto leverage their technology investments.This architecture spreads computing tasksamong available processors to make thebest use of all the resources within a contactcenter. With client-server computing,information is immediately available.

Additionally, contact center representatives(agents) require tools to increase theirproficiency in managing the volume ofcalls they take each day. The goal of agentempowerment is to provide solutions toenhance customer service and increase

productivity while providing a distinctadvantage within the highly competitivecontact center environment. With callerinformation available to an agent when acall arrives, a more meaningful transactioncan take place. The result is better communi-cation, and a better relationship, betweenthe customer and the representative.

Nortel Networks—A leader incustomer contactNortel Networks is a world leader incustomer contact solutions for more than30 years. Today contact centers are locatedin more than 100 countries with morethan 3.5 million agent positions world-wide handling over 150 million calls perday and more than 7,000 customer auto-mated interactions using Nortel Networksself-service and speech applications. Thefoundation of this success lies in the abilityto understand the needs of the contactcenter environment, helping companiescreate lasting relationships with customersand developing solutions to address ever-changing business needs. Nortel NetworksSymposium Express Call Center is a vitalcomponent of this solution portfolio,offering exceptional call processing andagent handling capabilities for smallercontact centers that require an intuitive,yet comprehensive, set of managementtools.

Nortel Networks Symposium Express Call Center Feature Guide 3

Nortel Networks Symposium Express Call Center Feature Guide4

Nortel Networks SymposiumExpress Call Center 4.2Nortel Networks Symposium* ExpressCall Center 4.2 uses a state-of-the-artarchitecture based upon a client-serverconfiguration that distributes call routingand management capabilities amongprocessors to make the best use of systemresources.

The Symposium Express Call Center inte-grates three key components: telephony,server, and client. The telephony compo-nent includes the Nortel NetworksMeridian 1*, a robust PBX which providesagents with an interface into the voicenetwork, or the Succession* 1000, aserver-based fully-featured IP PBXproviding the benefits of a convergednetwork plus advanced applications andover 450 world-class telephony features.The server component is comprised ofindustry-standard processors and software,along with Nortel Networks-developed

applications software, which communicatesto the Meridian 1 or Succession 1000through a dedicated Local Area Network(LAN) connection. The client component(s)include Nortel Networks developed soft-ware, which runs on industry-standardhardware, as well as an array of NortelNetworks and third-party developed appli-cations which utilize Symposium ExpressCall Center’s open interfaces.

As shown in the above diagram, SymposiumExpress Call Center operates in a client/serverenvironment, although the server shares aPC with the client. Optional additionalclient PCs connect to an existing customerLAN. The LAN operates in either Ethernetarchitecture or Token Ring architecture,using the TCP/IP protocol.

The figure above depicts the architectureof the Symposium Express Call Center.The figure shows that LANs will be usedto send information between the serverand the clients in the contact center. The

LAN shown as a Nortel Networksembedded LAN is a standard EthernetLAN that is dedicated for the SymposiumExpress Call Center server and theMeridian 1 PBX operation, administration,and maintenance workstation. Thecustomer LAN—a TCP/IP Ethernet orToken Ring—is where supervisor work-stations are connected. This customerLAN also provides connections to third-party applications via interfaces such asMeridian Link Services.

Contact center management

The server component, operating withMicrosoft’s Windows 2000 operatingsystem, is responsible for functions such asthe logic for call processing, call treatment,and supervisor access real-time screens,such as the “Agent Skillset Matrix” used toview and make necessary changes to theskillset assignments of their agents, with apoint-and-click interface.

Reporting

Symposium Express Call Center provides aset of standard reports detailing variousstatistics such as call handling performanceand agent productivity. This wealth ofinformation offers contact center managersthe expertise to enhance contact centerefficiency. Customized contact centerreports may also be generated by any stan-dard report writer that conforms to theindustry standards of Open DatabaseConnectivity (ODBC) and StandardQuery Language (SQL). This allows flexi-bility for contact center management tocreate reports with information imperativeto the success of their business.

Figure 1. Symposium Express Call Center architecture

Meridian 1 or Succession 1000Optional Meridian Mail, Voice Services Card,

MIRAN, or third-party IVR

Agent/supervisor sets

Windows 2000 server/Advanced server

Application software/client software

Embedded LAN

Dial-upnetworkingand remotesupport

CustomerLAN

Trunks

SymposiumExpress clientsfor supervisorsand managers

OptionalCallPilot


Symposium Express Call Center 4.2Nortel Networks Symposium Express CallCenter 4.2 offers contact center managerscomprehensive skill-based routing andintuitive management and reportingcapabilities required to support a dynamicsmaller contact center environment.

The management capabilities of theSymposium Express Call Center are partic-ularly easy to use because the interface iscomprised of a user client based onMicrosoft’s Windows 2000 Professional,Windows XP Professional, or Window2000 server. Contact center supervisorsmove through flexible screens with apoint-and-click mouse interface from theirworkstations. Help screens and on-linetutorials are always available to assist withcompleting supervisory tasks.

The system supports superior levels ofcustomer service by allowing flexibility indefining call routing and agent callhandling selections through easy-to-useadministration screens.

Managers and supervisors seeking currentinformation about contact center perform-ance can monitor all areas of the contactcenter via real-time displays and recon-figure parameters as business requirementschange.

For long-term planning, managers andsupervisors can generate comprehensiveand meaningful management reports with the abundant management statisticsavailable.

Symposium Express CallCenter client main windowThe Symposium Express Call Center 4.2client provides a new main window forusers and when launched from a shortcuton the desktop, the user is prompted toenter his/her PC User ID and Password.The icons displayed in the main window

Figure 2. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard—main window

Figure 3. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard—drop-down menu on main window

depend on the type of user that has loggedin. There are three options:

1. For the supervisor, reports and displays,agent/skillset assignments, agent super-visor administration, and tutorials areavailable.

2. For the customer administrator(custadmin), all icons except the Importand Advanced functions are presented.

3. For distributors and Nortel Networkspersonnel (SysAdmin) users, all icons asshown above are available.

In the main window, users gain access toSymposium Express Call Center capabilitiesby selecting one of five areas:

• Reports and Displays

• User Administration

• Call Administration

• Switch Administration

• System Administration

Each of these top level tasks provides adrop-down menu of the more detailedlevel tasks where all the properties associ-ated with that task can be configured andmanaged. Within a window, users canchoose to navigate to other tasks or returnto the main window.

Help and a tutorial are also available directlyfrom the main window of SymposiumExpress Call Center.

Multiple call treatment classesDifferent activities within a contact centerare likely to require different configurationsfor call handling and treatment. For example,the sales desk may operate normal businesshours whereas the customer service groupwould operate extended business hours.Symposium Express Call Center allows 32unique treatment classes to be configured,supporting the following:

• Days of business

• Hours of business

• Announcements

• After-hours treatments

• Holidays

• Call interflow—denoted in the systemsoftware as ‘Second Overflow’

• Voice processing capabilities

A treatment class is a definition of holidays,opening hours, announcements, and after-hours treatment. There is a maximum limitof 32 treatments, which consist of 32 setsof opening times/holidays/announcements.The treatment classes are configured firstbefore continuing to the Call RoutingMatrix screen. At least one treatmentneeds to be configured before you go tothe Call Routing screen.

To illustrate the advantages of the multipletreatment classes, let’s look at a simple callflow for a contact center with a sales depart-ment and a customer service department.In this example, Sales is open to take callsfrom 9:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday throughFriday and the Customer Service depart-ment takes calls from 8:00 am to 8:00 pmMonday through Saturday. CustomerService deals with general queries (deliverytracking, product availability, etc.) andtechnical support. The example demonstratesthree treatments.

Treatment 1 (Sales Department)—Whena caller dials the toll-free number forSales—1-800-SALES—during businesshours, the call will be routed directly tothe Sales skillset. The caller will hear thefirst wait announcement such as “Welcometo ABC company sales...”, and if an agentis free the call will be answered immedi-ately. Depending upon the wait time, asecond announcement may be played andrepeated at defined intervals until the call isanswered. These announcements arespecific to this treatment class. If callsarrive for Sales outside of business hours,these calls are routed to the GeneralQueries agents.

Treatment 2 (General Queries)—Whenthe caller dials the toll-free number forCustomer Service—1-800-SERVICE—during business hours, the caller will bepresented with an options menu. Thisoptions menu is provided by using CallPilot*,Meridian Mail*, the Symposium ExpressCall Center Voice Services Card, or otherthird-party IVR like Nortel NetworksMPS 100. The caller is asked to press ‘1’ forGeneral Queries (Treatment 2), press ‘2’ forTechnical Support (Treatment 3), or press‘3’ to repeat the menu.

On pressing key #1 (General Queries)during open hours for General Queries,the call will be routed directly to theGeneral Queries skillset. The caller willhear the first wait announcement, “Welcometo ABC company general queries ...”, andif an agent is free the call will be answeredimmediately. Depending on the wait time,a second announcement may be playedand repeated at defined intervals until thecall is answered. These announcements arespecific to this treatment class. When a callis presented to General Queries outside ofbusiness hours, then an out-of-hoursannouncement is played.

Treatment 3 (Technical Support)—Onpressing key #2 (Technical Support) duringbusiness hours, the call will be routeddirectly to the Technical Support skillset.The caller will hear the first wait announce-ment, i.e. “Welcome to ABC companyTechnical Support...”, and if an agent isfree the call will be answered immediately.Depending on the wait time, a secondannouncement may be played and repeatedat user-defined intervals until the call isanswered. These announcements are specificto this treatment class. If a call is presentedto Technical Support outside of businesshours, then this call will be routed to anexternal paging service. This is referred toas Call Interflow and the call is routed to aDN which can be either internal orexternal to the contact center. The DNselected is unique to this treatment class.



Emergency Treatment—Additionally, asystem-wide emergency mode of operationcan be defined where all incoming calls willbe directed to an emergency announcement.This facility is available to Sysadmin andto Custadmin only. The EmergencyTreatment is useful for any situation whereagents must evacuate the contact centersuch as during a fire drill. The ContactCenter Manager is required to click on thetraffic light in the bottom left hand-side ofthe screen to put the contact center intoemergency mode. Clicking the traffic lightallows the user to activate/de-activateemergency mode.

Management and callhandling features

Agent and supervisormanagementContact center managers maintain a data-base of agent and supervisor profiles withinthe client component of the SymposiumExpress Call Center. The profiles containgeneral information (name, agent identifi-cation code, supervisor association,personal directory number, etc.) and callhandling characteristics (skillsets andpriorities assigned, return call to queuetimer and treatments, etc.). As an agent’s

ability changes, the manager alerts theSymposium Express Call Center byupdating the profile database.

Agent telephone set featuresAll digital agent telephone sets are predefinedin the Meridian 1 PBX or Succession 1000with an InCalls key that is programmed toreceive incoming skillset calls. Agents arerequired to log into the system by pressingtheir InCalls key and entering their specificagent identification—or Agent ID—of upto 16 digits. This indicates availability totake contact center calls. Attributes such asskillsets and priorities and call handling

Customer hears:

Press 1 for General Queries

Press 2 for Technical Support

Press 3 to repeat this message

Sales skillset

Customer hears the first

Sales announcement.

If the call is not answered

after a defined wait period,

the customer hears the

second and repeat Sales

announcement until call

is answered.

General Queries skillset Technical Support skillset



the customer hears the second

and repeat Technical Support

announcement until call is

answered.


General Queries

announcement.


Technical Support

announcement.



the customer hears the second

and repeat General Queries

announcement until call is

answered.

If call received

during

business hours

of Sales, then

routes call to

the Sales

skillset.

If call received

outside of

business hours

of Sales, then

routes call to

the General

Queries

skillset.

If call received

during

business hours

of General

Queries, then

routes call to

the General

Queries

skillset.

If call received

outside of

business hours

of General

Queries, then

play General

Queries

after hours

announcement.

If call received

during

business hours

of Technical

Support, then

route call to

the Technical

Support

skillset.

If call received

outside of

business hours

of Technical

Support, then

route call to

external

paging service.

Customer dials1-800-SALES

Customer dials 1-800-SERVICEMenu options provided using CallPilot

1 2

Figure 4. Multiple treatment class example

information are assigned automatically tothe agent, which allows call processing tobegin. Agents using single-line telephoneslogin by dialing a series of codes.

Agent queuingUpon logging into the Symposium ExpressCall Center, agents are placed into idleagent queues for the skillsets that are markedas active in their agent profiles. This actionmakes them available to answer calls thatrequire those skillsets.

Agent prioritiesWhen agents are assigned to skillsets, theyare also assigned a call answering prioritywithin those skillsets. The priorities rangefrom 1 (highest priority) to 4 (lowestpriority). This allows agents that are moreskilled in a certain area to take calls forthat skillset before a less-skilled agent. Azero indicates that the agent is not assignedto the skillset and is the default assignmentwhen new skillsets are added.

For example, a contact center that takes ITsupport calls may have agents that areskilled in different areas. If an agent isexpertly skilled in answering software-related questions, he or she would beassigned to the “software” skillset with a

priority of 1. However, that same agentcan answer hardware-related questions, butnot with the same expertise as “software.”In this case, he or she may be assigned tothe “hardware” skillset with lower priority,perhaps level 3.

Agent priorities give a contact center theadvantage of offering the best call coverageto customers. Priorities also offer agents anopportunity to learn a new skill withoutbeing besieged with calls.

BreaktimeIn some situations, agents may require aspecified time between calls to completepost-call processing. The after-call breakfeature is a timer that can be used to provideagents with a delay before the next call ispresented. The timer is applied to everycall delivered to the agent’s phone set.

During the delay period, agents can completenecessary paperwork without being presentedwith another call. Offering agents a delaybetween calls ensures that the agent cancomplete the previous call’s informationbefore receiving the next call.

Alternate Call AnswerThe Alternate Call Answer feature allowsagents to quickly switch from personaldirectory number calls to skillset calls byplacing the personal line on hold. Thisfeature is activated by checking the box for“Answer call by placing DN call on hold”within call presentation properties.

Call handling featuresThe following contact center features helpagents answer calls effectively:

InCalls

Incoming contact center calls are presentedto agent telephone sets via an InCalls key.This predefined key enables agents toquickly identify the call as a skillset calland provide the high level of serviceexpected by the caller.

Agent Personal Directory Number

Sometimes agents are required to callcustomers to confirm orders or relayimportant information. For this reason,each agent is optionally configured with apersonal directory number to make orreceive non-skillset related calls.

Not Ready

The Not Ready feature ensures that agentsonly answer calls when they are fullyprepared. By pressing the Not Ready key,agents can leave the idle agent queues towhich they are assigned. This allows agentsto process post-call information withoutinterruption or to take breaks whilecontinuing to track the agent’s time.

Pressing the Not Ready key will disconnectany active call that the agent is on. If theNot Ready key is pressed while a call isringing at the telephone set, the call will bereturned to the queue. Any time spent inNot Ready or post-call processing will beidentified in management reports or displays,enabling supervisors to keep track of theamount of time undertaken by agents thatis not related to answering calls.

Make Busy

Activation of the Make Busy key prevents anagent from receiving any calls—whetherskillset or personal directory number. It isutilized by agents to log out for breaks,lunch, or end of shift or day.

The Make Busy key can be activated whilea call is in progress and, as soon as the callis completed, the agent is logged out.

Activity Codes

In some contact centers it is important tounderstand where agents are spending callprocessing time. Agents can enter activitycodes related to the different functionsthey perform. Functions might includetaking orders, dispensing information, oranswering product questions. Managers


can then access reports related to theseactivities. The reports contain informationsuch as the total number of calls in whichthe specified activity was recorded.

To record an activity code during an activeincoming skillset call, agents simply press aspecified Activity Code key and enter a 1- to 32-digit code related to the functionthey are performing. Multiple activity codescan be entered during a single call, so ifthe call changes from a “product inquiry”to an “order,” the time spent related toeach function is recorded.

A default activity code can be defined foreach skillset. If the agent does not enter an activity code during a call, then the call will be recorded to the system defaultactivity code. If the agent hits the activitycode key twice, then the call will berecorded to the default activity codedefined for that skillset.

Display Waiting Calls

Agents can work more effectively if theyare aware of how many calls are waiting tobe processed. The Display Waiting Callskey informs an agent of call traffic bydisplaying the total number of calls waitingin the skillsets to which the agent belongs,the number of logged-in agents in thosesame skillsets, and the wait time for theoldest call in those skillsets.

Supervisor key

At certain times agents need the assistanceof a supervisor. By pressing the Supervisorkey, an agent can contact his or her super-visor instantly for consultation. If theagent is on an established contact centercall, pressing this key will place the calleron hold and initiate a call to the supervisor.After the supervisor answers, a three-wayconference can be established with theagent, supervisor, and caller.

The Supervisor key is also used to answera call that is initiated from the supervisorto an agent. When the telephone set is

ringing and the Supervisor key is illumi-nated, the agent knows that the call isfrom the supervisor and can respondappropriately.

Emergency key

An agent who is confronted with an emer-gency or threatening call can get assistancefrom his or her supervisor immediately bypressing the Emergency key. Activatingthis key does not place the caller on hold.

Information about the call is automaticallyprinted on a maintenance terminal and thesupervisor is alerted by a correspondingAnswer Emergency key on his or her tele-phone. If the contact center is equippedwith a recording device, the call can alsobe recorded for follow-up investigation.

Automatic Answer

Automatic Answer, also called call forcing,maximizes the amount of time agentsspend addressing customers’ needs byminimizing the time between calls.

When an agent has completed a call, thenext call requiring the agent’s skillset canbe automatically connected without theagent pressing any keys. A delay timer(from 0 seconds to 5 minutes) can beestablished to allow the agent to preparefor the next call and to allow third-partyapplications to deliver the necessary infor-mation on the agent’s desktop before theagent is connected to the call.

Automatic answering of calls delivers betterservice to customers as their inquiries areanswered without unnecessary delay andincreases the overall efficiency of thecontact center by processing calls withoutinconsistent delays.

Return To Queue On No Answer

If an agent walks away from the telephone,the Return To Queue On No Answerfeature offers a way to send a call that issent to the agent’s telephone back to theincoming calls queue after a predefinedamount of time. This safeguard ensuresthat calls will always be answered withoptimum efficiency. When a call is returnedto the incoming calls queue, the agent’stelephone is placed into either the NotReady or Make Set Busy state (as definedby the system administrator) to preventadditional calls from being sent to thetelephone.

Supervisor telephone set featuresIn addition to having access to the manyagent telephone set features such asanswering incoming skillset calls on anInCalls key, supervisor telephone setfeatures offer contact center supervisorsthe ability to provide agents assistance intreating callers to exceptional service.Following are contact center telephone setfeatures available to supervisors:

Individual Agent keys

Individual Agent keys can provide super-visors with a close-up view of agentperformance that may not be apparentfrom overall traffic patterns. By notingvariations in the way individual agent keysilluminate and flash, a supervisor can tellwhether an agent is busy with a skillsetcall, waiting for a call, occupied with post-call work, on a personal directory numbercall, or not logged in.

Call Agent

The Call Agent key allows a supervisor toquickly call an agent. After pressing theCall Agent key, a supervisor presses theassociated agent key or dials the agent’sposition ID. The agent is alerted that thecall is from a supervisor because theSupervisor key is illuminated.



Answer Agent

When an agent activates the Supervisorkey, the call rings on the supervisor’s tele-phone at the Answer Agent key. With aquick glance, the supervisor knows thatthe call is from an agent.

Answer Emergency

When an agent presses the Emergency key,the supervisor’s telephone emits a contin-uous tone and the Answer Emergency keyflashes. The supervisor can then connectdirectly to the agent and the call bypressing the Answer Emergency key.

Display Waiting Calls

Because supervisors can be assigned toanswer skillset calls, they can derive real-time information about their active skillsetsby pressing the Display Waiting Calls key.The supervisor’s telephone set will displaythe number of calls currently waiting in allthe active skillset queues defined for thatsupervisor, the number of agent positionsmanned for the active skillset queues thatthe supervisor is associated with, and thewait time of the oldest call in the super-visor’s active skillset queues. If the skillsetqueues are backlogged, the supervisor canencourage agents to revise operating proce-dures so all callers will be served morepromptly.

Display Agents

A supervisor can monitor agents’ perform-ance in real-time from the telephone set byusing the Display Agents key. Activation ofthis key shows the number of agents whoare currently busy, waiting for calls, orengaged in personal directory number callsand the number of spare agent positions.

Agent Observe

While a supervisor has several methods ofmonitoring how quickly each agent works,one of the best ways to evaluate andimprove agent-caller relations is to listen tocalls in progress.

The Agent Observe feature enables asupervisor to listen to an agent’s conversa-tion with or without being heard by theparties on the call. An optional tone isavailable to alert the agent and, if desired,the caller that the call is being monitored.The observing supervisor can also enterthe call and form a conference.

Note: Governing laws may require noticeto the parties on a call that the call isbeing monitored. These laws may alsorequire giving callers the right to disallowmonitoring. You should review the appli-cable laws to determine the manner inwhich you use this feature.

Agent/SupervisorAdministrationWhen choosing the Agent /SupervisorAdministration option in the SymposiumExpress Call Center client main window,the following window is displayed:

This User Administration window providesa view of user properties and the status ofthe agents and supervisors in the SymposiumExpress Call Center system. The list ofusers presented does not include SysAdminor the Administrator as these users areneither agents nor supervisors.

The Add button allows administrators toadd a new user (a new agent or a newsupervisor). The Symposium Express CallCenter administrator can also modifycurrent agents or supervisors by choosingthe Properties button. This will display theUser Property sheet where various fieldscan be edited.

The Assignments button allows navigationto the Agent/Skillset Assignments windowwhere you can assign agents to skillsets.

Figure 5. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard—Agent/Supervisor Administration


Within the User Administration window,you can add and modify users by choosingthe appropriate option in the File menu orfrom the toolbar. The User Property sheetis then displayed, allowing modification ofparticular fields.

The User Property Sheet is divided intothree main areas: General, Phone Set, andUser capabilities.

General

The Name fields must be entered when anew agent or supervisor is added.

The Title, Department, and Commentfields are optional. The Language fieldallows the end user to choose from a list ofavailable languages for displaying messageson the telephone set.

Telephone Set

The telephone set Login ID is used byagents to log into their telephone sets.When an agent logs in, SymposiumExpress Call Center passes the Login IDfrom the agent profile to the Meridian 1.This is a mandatory field.

The personal DN (Extension) is the exten-sion for the agent to receive non-contactcenter calls. This information must first beconfigured on the Meridian 1 orSuccession 1000. The personal DN is nottied to a particular telephone set. Instead,a call is routed to the telephone set theagent is currently using. This is anoptional field.

User capabilities

When the Symposium Express Call CenterAdministrator adds a new supervisor byclicking the Supervisor check box, thePosition ID field is enabled. If the checkbox is not clicked, the Position ID field isnot enabled (is greyed out). Entry of aPosition ID for a supervisor is optional.The PC User ID field is mandatory forsupervisors. This field is the user ID usedwhen a supervisor logs on to SymposiumExpress Call Center client to view real-time displays and print reports.

Figure 6. Symposium Express Call Center—User Property Sheet

Skill-based routing

SkillsetsSkillsets are the basic unit used by skill-based routing (SBR) in all call routingcommands and in assignment to agents.The skillset name identifies a skillset and isused in agent and script configuration.The skillset name is unique across allskillset names.

When the Symposium Express Call Centeruser selects the Agent/Skillsets Assignmenticon in the main window, the followingmatrix is displayed:

Agents can be assigned to skillsets usingthis matrix. As agents are created, theSymposium Express Call Center enters thenames in the left-hand column; similarlyskillset names are entered automaticallyalong the top column. The SymposiumExpress Call Center user can assign skillsetsto agents by entering in a priority level inthe corresponding field where the Skillsetcolumn and Agent row intersect.

Note: The Symposium Express Call Centeruser can now use the TAB key to move tothe next field to enter in the priority level.Symposium Express Call Center then

routes calls to agents in a skillset accordingto the priority in the matrix.

Once the Save button is pressed, theassignment is applied immediately.

New skillsets can be created, within theAgent/Skillset Assignment window, bychoosing the Add Skillset button—thefollowing property sheet is presented:

A skillset name can only be composed ofcharacters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and underscores.Skillset names must be unique (comparisonsare case insensitive). Once the user hasentered a valid skillset name and pressedthe OK button, the matrix will be updatedby adding a column associated with thenew skillset. If a new skillset is added withthe same name as an existing skillset, thenan error is generated.


Figure 7. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard—Agent/Skillset Assignment

Figure 8. New Skillset Property Sheet

Figure 9. Delete Skillset Administration


Skillsets can also be deleted in theAgent/Skillset Assignment window, bychoosing the Delete Skillset button—theabove property sheet is presented:

When the user selects a skillset from thelist and presses the OK softkey, the skillsetwill be deleted. (But only if no agents areassigned to it. If agents are assigned, anappropriate message box is presented andthe skillset is not deleted.) Upon skillsetdeletion, the matrix is updated to removethe column associated with the skillset in question.

If the Symposium Express Call Centeruser needs to create more users within theAgent/Skillset Assignment window, theUser Admin button provides a way ofnavigating to the User Administrationwindow, where users can be created,modified, or deleted.

Call presentationThe Call Presentation icon in theSymposium Express Call Center mainwindow presents the user with thefollowing dialog boxes:

In this window, users can configure howcalls are presented to agents.

• Call Force presents the call to an agentwithout the agent having to hit the In-calls key on the telephone set. The “CallForce Delay Timer” sets a delay betweenthe presentation of the call to the agent’sset and the call being force answered onthe headset.

• The Return to Queue on No Answerflag can be used to return calls to theirqueues when the calls are not answeredwithin a defined time limit. SymposiumExpress Call Center can request that theMeridian 1 or Succession 1000 removethe call from the agent’s set and return itto a CDN. Symposium Express CallCenter will restore the call to the skillsetqueue position that it was at before anattempt was made to present the call to

an agent, i.e., the call will beplaced back to the front ofthe queue and will be answerednext unless there is a higherpriority call in the queue.

• The Return to Queue on No Answer wait intervaldetermines how long the call ispresented at the agent set before beingpulled back into the queue. The returnto queue mode places the agent in eitherthe Make Set Busy or Not Ready stateafter a call has been returned. This is toensure that no other calls will be sent tothat telephone set until the agent returns.

• Call Force and Return to Queue on NoAnswer are mutually exclusive. If neitherthe Call Force nor the Return to Queueon No Answer are selected, then the callwill keep ringing at the telephone set.

• Break Time sets a timer that is allowedto elapse from the moment an agenthangs up on a call and the momentshe/he qualifies to receive another call.

• The “Answer call by placing DN call onhold” option allows an agent who isbusy with a DN call to put the DN callon hold and receive a contact center call.Note the agent must put the DN call onhold before the call is presented.

Contact center data import This feature reduces the technician timeon-site. It allows users to utilize theSymposium Express Call Center client inan off-line manner so that they can enterconfiguration data off-site and then bringthis data on site and import it into thesystem. It must be noted however that thisfeature is primarily a “run-once” feature usedat configuration time but may however beused for future reconfigurations.

Off-line data entryThe Symposium Express Call Center clientwill allow the user to enter and save theConfiguration data to a text file ratherthan writing the data to the database.

The data will be written to the file at theuser’s request.

The user will be able to save the data peri-odically by using the Save, OK, or Applybutton—which are provided on each ofthe data entry screens.

Figure 10. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard—Call Presentation


The filename and file location to whichthe data is saved will be the same for eachinvocation of this utility.

The Symposium Express Call Centerdistributor will be able to create his ownshortcut for this feature, on the desktop;the client installation process will notautomatically do so.

After the client is installed, the user will go into the SMI workbench and add asystem with the IP address 0.0.0.0—whenyou click on this site, the client will launchin offline mode.

Online data import When the user has the data file on theSymposium Express Call Center Servermachine, she must import this data upinto the system. The functionality of thisprocess is detailed below:

• Click on ‘Import Utility’ under the SystemAdministration button on the SymposiumExpress Call Center main window.

• If she wishes to continue, then a standardMicrosoft file browser dialog is presentedto the user in order for her to locate theconfiguration file to be imported.

• The input file is then parsed and anynew records are added to the database.

• If there are records that have the sameprimary key but have been modified,then the user is prompted to confirmthat these records will be updated.

• If there are records not in the data filebut exist in the Symposium Express CallCenter server, the records in the serverremain as they are.

• A progress bar indicates to the SymposiumExpress Call Center user the duration oftime needed for this process.

• Each operation is logged to a log file onthe client. These log files will be localiz-able by the use of resource files. Whenthe import operation completes itself,then notepad will be launched automati-cally and the log file is displayed. The

report file is used for the most currentoperation only. It will not be automati-cally deleted. Instead, it will be over-written if the configuration process isexecuted more than once.

Call processingNortel Networks Symposium Express CallCenter offers flexible call routing to definehow calls are handled and treated on anindividual call basis. When a contactcenter call is presented to the Meridian 1or Succession 1000, the treatment that isgiven to the caller is determined byinstructions contained in call scripts.

Call scripts are automatically defined andmodified by the Call Routing Wizards.

The process of call routingWhen the Meridian 1 or Succession 1000receives an incoming contact center call,the Symposium Express Call Center screensthe call based on network informationsuch as Dialed Number IdentificationService (DNIS), Calling Line Identification(CLID), or Controlled Directory Number(CDN) to determine the specific callrouting. Additionally, items such as timeof day, day of week, day of year, or call

center activity might determine how thecall is handled. For example, a group ofhigh-profile customers may be given aspecific telephone number for customerservice (a specified DNIS). These callerscan be routed with high priority to agentswith the skills necessary to service them.However, if the specially trained agents arebusy, a secondary group of agents wouldserve as backup answering positions forthese callers. Following are some methodsof call routing:

• Queuing callers to specific or multipleskillsets

• Queuing callers to specific agents

Skill-based agent selectionSymposium Express Call Center’s skill-based routing provides efficient call handlingand greater utilization of contact centerresources by presenting calls to appropri-ately skilled agents and by allowing agentsto handle multiple call types. With skill-based routing, calls are presented to avail-able agents equipped with the necessary“skillset” to service the callers’ requests.Calls can be simultaneously queued tomultiple skillsets in the same SymposiumExpress Call Center.

Figure 11. Symposium Express Call Center off-line data entry

Click on ‘addsystem’ to add a

site to the SMIworkbench

Add an IP addressof 0.0.0.0 to

launch the clientin offline mode.


Skillsets and agents

A skillset is a label applied to a collectionof abilities or the knowledge of something—such as a product, language, or department—which may be required of an agent to processa given call. Agents are assigned to skillsets.

• Each agent can be assigned up to 50skillsets.

• Agents are given a priority for each skillsetto which he or she is assigned. Skillsetpriorities range from 1 to 4, with 1 beingthe highest priority assignment.

• A call that requires a certain skillset isgiven to the available agent with thehighest priority for that skillset.

Skillsets and call requirements

The requirements of callers are determinedby call scripts that decide the most appro-priate skillset(s) to which the call shouldbe directed. Callers’ requirements can bebased on the following criteria:

• Who the caller is: calling party informa-tion (CLID, ANI)

• What the caller dialed: called partyinformation (DNIS)

• When the caller calls: date or time of the call

• Contact center conditions: system infor-mation (agent status or skillset status)

A call script may be set up in such a waythat all calls that have dialed DNIS 2300are queued to agents assigned to skillset“Customer Service,” while calls that havedialed DNIS 2400 are queued to agentsassigned to skillset “Sales.”

Call queuing versatilityThe Symposium Express Call Centerprovides queuing functionality to manageagents and facilitate the presentation ofincoming calls to agents for differentcontact center applications.

For contact centers that have agents whoare capable of supporting multiple calltypes, skill-based routing offers the ability

to request agents based on ability (skillset)and availability. Agents can be assignedmany skillsets according to their abilitiesand can thus service many different typesof calls. For contact centers with agentsthat handle only one call type at a time,the Symposium Express Call Centeralways offers the ability for agents to beassigned to a single skillset.

A call can be queued to up to 20 skillsetssimultaneously, providing flexibility tolook at many skillsets for the correctlyskilled agent.

When the need arises for a caller to speakwith a specific contact center representative,the Symposium Express Call Center providesthe ability to queue a call to an individualagent—if that agent is assigned to his ownskillset. For example, this functionalitywould allow a caller to be routed to thesame agent the caller had talked to previ-ously, perhaps reducing frustration on thepart of the caller.

Agent queuing versatility—most idleagent or longest idle agent

The Symposium Express Call Center’sselection of an agent to receive a call isbased on agent availability and the amountof time agents have been available (idle).When agents become available to take calls,upon logging in or completing a call, theyare placed into idle agent queues accordingto their skillset assignments. The order inwhich agents are placed into the idle agentqueues is based on agent priority assignmentin a skillset, from levels 1 to 4, and agentidle time. Symposium Express Call Centerqueues the call to the agent that has beenidle the longest.

Call presentation matches callers with agents

Call presentation is the matching of avail-able agents with incoming calls. Presentationis performed based on the requirements ofa call and the service abilities of agents asdefined by skillsets (qualifications).

Priority assignments for calls and agentsThere are two sets of priorities that willaffect queuing and call presentation. Theyare the priority with which an agent isassigned to a skillset and the priority withwhich a call is queued to a skillset. Forboth types of priorities, the lower value ofthe number indicates a greater priority inpresentation.

Agent priority within skillset

Each agent will have a priority per skillset.This priority represents the agent’s skilllevel within the skillset. These prioritiesallow agents with greater priority in askillset to be presented with calls beforeagents with a lesser priority. Agent priorityper skillset has a range of 1 to 4, with 1 having the greatest priority.

For example, an agent assigned a priorityof 1 in skillset A is considered to be highlyproficient in servicing callers to that skillset,while an agent assigned a priority of 4 inskillset A may be a new employee learninghow to service callers to that skillset.

Call priority

Priorities can be assigned to providespecialized treatment for different calltypes. This option allows calls with greaterpriority to be presented to agents beforecalls of lesser priority. Call priority can beset to either 1 or 2, with 1 having thegreatest priority.

For example, a contact center may haveservice agreements with several customergroups and want to provide a differentlevel of customer service based on thoseagreements. The contact center coulddesignate call priorities based on eachagreement type.


Call treatment and routingChoosing the Call Treatment icon in theSymposium Express Call Center mainwindow presents the user with thefollowing wizard which requests the userto enter the name of the treatment. Asmany as 32 different treatments may bedefined.

On selecting the treatment, the user isthen presented with the Hours ofOperation dialog. The user enters in thedays of the week and the hours during theday that the contact center is operationalfor the particular treatment.

Figure 12. Call Treatments Scripting Wizard

Figure 13. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard Scripting: Hours of Operation


When the Next button is clicked, theTreatment Overflow dialog is displayed.Users have the option to set overflow inter-vals, as well as the option to route calls outof their contact center to an externalnumber, or play an announcement.

When then Next button is clicked, theHolidays dialog is displayed.

After hours treatment and holiday treat-ment are configured by selecting the dateof the holiday and choosing the skillset ormailbox to which the user wants to route.

Figure 14. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard Scripting: Overflow Configuration

Figure 15. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard Scripting—Holidays


Clicking on Next brings up theAnnouncements treatment dialog:

The user can record up to five differentannouncements for callers to hear pertreatment.

The Ringback and Music treatments canbe played to callers at the start of the call,while in queue or between announcements.Either Ringback or Music can be played atany one time. If the user selects to playRingback, the corresponding checkbox forplaying music will be automatically disabled.Silence is the default treatment if Ringbackor Music is not chosen.

If the user chooses to record a CallPilot orMeridian Mail announcement, then he mustspecify the ACD DN from the correspon-ding list box and specify the Announcement(or voice menu) IDs in the Greeting ID,Wait ID, and ID fields. This will identifyto the Symposium Express Call Centersystem and to CallPilot or Meridian Mailthe exact announcement the caller is tohear. If the user specifies a RAN or MIRANannouncement, then he must specify theassociated Route numbers in the ID fields.Callers will then be queued to this route tohear the announcement or the music. TheVoice Services Card provides functionality

similar to CallPilot and Meridian Mail—itplays announcements and voice menus tocollect customer-entered data.

The time period between announcements isdefaulted to 15 seconds but can be changed.

After the Symposium Express Call Centeruser has selected the days that the contactcenter is operational and selected days forholiday treatment, these values are mappedto the appropriate variables in the Scripttemplate for each of the treatments. Theuser then runs the Call Routing Wizard.

The Call Routing screen in the Wizardallows users to route calls based on:

• CLID, routed to skillset(s)

• Incoming DNIS routed to skillset(s)

• Incoming CDN(S) routed to skillset(s)

Note: A call will be routed on the basis ofthe CLID, if it is available; if not, then thecall will be routed based on DNIS. Finallyif neither CLID nor DNIS are available,the call will be routed by CDN.

If the user selects the option “Queue yourcall center’s phone numbers to skillsets(DNIS)”, a dialog is presented, promptingthe user to enter in their DNIS numbers.These numbers are displayed along theleft-hand column, as shown in Figure 17.“Symposium Express Call Center WizardScripting—Call Routing”.

If the user selects the option “Queue thecontrolled call center numbers to skillsets(CDN)”, any CDNs set up on theMeridian 1 or Succession 1000 (andacquired for use with Symposium ExpressCall Center) will be entered along the left-hand column.

If the user selects the option “Queue yourcustomer’s phone numbers to skillsets(Calling Line ID)”, a dialog is presented,prompting the user to enter in the CLIDnumbers. These numbers are displayed alongthe left-hand column, as shown in Figure 17.

Figure 16. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard Scripting—Announcements

Figure 17. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard Scripting—Call Routing


“Symposium Express Call Center WizardScripting—Call Routing”. The CLIDvalues input represent the prefix for theCLID to be matched. For example, aninput value of 416 will match any actualCLID that begins with 416.

All skillsets entered by the user will belisted along the top and all DN values willbe entered along the side. The user canthen enter the priority with which theywant a call to be queued to the correspon-ding skillset.

Routing calls to multiple skillsets providesan overflow mechanism in SymposiumExpress Call Center. If calls are not answeredwithin a certain amount of time, then theyare overflowed to the next skillset in thelist with the next highest priority. Therefore,“priority” is used in two ways—it ordersthe skillsets that the call will be sent to andit indicates the priority of the call once itis queuing in the skillset.

Voice Services treatmentsFour different types of Voice Services treat-ments can be used for incoming calls:

• Transfer to a DN

• Comfort message

• Prompt/collect digits

• Voice menu

The transfer to a DN treatment transfersthe call to a pre-selected DN. The comfortmessage treatments are the announcementsplayed to callers while they are waiting foragents. These announcements assure callersthey are still in queue and that their callswill be attended to as soon as possible.

You can use the prompt/collect digitstreatments to collect single or multiple setsof digits from callers. An example is,“Thank you for calling XYZ Bank. Pleaseenter your account number.” The prompt/collect digits treatment can continue toprompt the caller for further sets of digits.“Thank you for entering your accountnumber. Please enter your PIN number.”

You can use the prompt/collect digitstreatment to:

• Collect multiple digits from the callerand send this information to a TAPIserver to enable a screen pop of informa-tion on the agent’s desktop (for example,using Symposium Agent software)

• Enable verification of entered digitsthrough playback of collected digits andcaller can re-enter digits if necessary

• Integrate prompt/collect digits intoexisting voice services treatments (forexample, within a voice menu)

• Use prompt/collect digits treatments as greeting announcements as part of acall treatment

The prompt/collect digits treatment is aSymposium Express Call Center keycode-enabled feature and requires you haveSymposium TAPI Service Provider andSymposium Agent, or other similar agentsoftware, installed.

A voice menu offers callers choices. Whena call arrives at a voice menu, a courteous

greeting is played, followed by a list ofoptions and the corresponding key that acaller must press to make a selection. Anexample is, “Thank you for calling ABCUniversity. To learn about class registration,press 1. For our part-time programs, press 2.To speak with the student registrar, press 3,or press # to repeat this message.” Callersmake a choice by pressing the appropriatenumber on their telephone keypads.

Symposium Express Call Center VoiceServices treatments are extremely flexible.You can decide to have only a single treat-ment or a multi-layered combination ofseveral treatments.

Expected wait time andposition in queueCaller satisfaction is extremely important.Callers waiting in queue want to knowwhat is happening to their calls. If a callerbegins to doubt what is happening to hercall, she is likely to hang up. To ensuremaximum customer satisfaction, you canplay appropriate messages based upon

Figure 18. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard Scripting—Expected Wait Time

and Position in Queue


expected wait time or position in queue oryou can tell callers what their expectedwait time is.

This is a keycoded feature available only if you have purchased the Position inQueue option.

Real-time displaysSymposium Express Call Center users canadminister the layout of the real-timedisplays. The Real-time Display choicefrom the main window presents the userwith the following:

Within the Real-time Display configura-tion window, users can peg agent activities,skillset statistics, and call center summarystatistics.

Note: The refresh period for real-timedisplays is five seconds. Each real-timedisplay format can be either a 10-minutemoving window or interval to date. Theinterval will be set at 24 hours with a starttime at midnight. The user may changethis setting only through the advancedfunctions of Symposium Express CallCenter via the system tree.

The Symposium Express Call Center usercan define a threshold level for an agent,skillset, or call center property, by selectingthe property in the drop-down list boxand by pressing the Add button. A dialogis displayed, presenting the user withdefault threshold levels and colors:

The threshold levels can be increased ordecreased by the user. The colors can alsobe changed for the different thresholdlevels. When the threshold levels havebeen configured for a particular property,that property and the correspondingthreshold values are displayed in the listboxes and will be used in the correspon-ding real-time displays. When the userclicks OK, all three real-time displays willbe opened. Each of these real-time displayscan be closed individually, if necessary.

Figure 19. Symposium Express Call Center Wizard—Real-time Display Configuration

Figure 20. Threshold configuration


The following screens shots are the agent,skillset, and call center summary real-timedisplays that are available on SymposiumExpress Call Center 4.2.

Graphical real-time displays

You can also use the Symposium graphicalreal-time display software application toshow real-time statistics in a graphicalformat—for example, pie charts, graphs,and billboards. Contact center managers,supervisors, and administrators use thisinformation to more effectively managecontact center activities.

The graphical real-time display (GRTD)shows Symposium Express Call Centerstatistics in the format you configure. Youselect a set of data elements and a presen-tation format. Together these make upwhat is called a data window. The data inthe data window is updated as contactcenter conditions change. You can chooseto display several different data windows atthe same time in a collection. Data isdisplayed in three different formats—billboard, chart, and map.

Figure 21. Symposium Express Call Center real-time agent display

Figure 22. Symposium Express Call Center real-time skillset display

Figure 23. Symposium Express Call Center real-time summary display

Figure 24. Real-time graphical display collection


Call prioritizationThe purpose of this section is to describehow calls are handled in the SymposiumExpress Call Center using call priority andskillset priorities. As an example, a Multi-lingual Contact Center is used; however,the example will apply to any contactcenter that takes different type of calls.

Example: MultilingualContact Center

Call types

The call types received into this contactcenter are one of three call types—French,German, or English. They are all generalquestions which can be answered by agentswho have the language skills.

Contact center set-up

There are four skillset set-ups:

• French—To answer French calls

• German—To answer German calls

• English—To answer English calls

• Multilingual—To answer calls in anylanguage

The proportion of calls received into thecontact center is as follows:

• 30% calls are French

• 20% calls are German

• 50% calls are English

The telephone numbers used by customersto call the contact center are:

• 123French

• 123German

• 123English

Skillsets

DN French German English Multilingual

123French 1 2 1

123German 1 2

123English 2 2 1 2

The French skillset will queue calls from the telephone number 123French at priority 1. Calls overflowing from the telephone number 123English into the skillset French

will be queued at call priority 2. New calls entering the queue from 123French will always jump ahead of 123English queued calls.

Call priority is set up as follows:

Skillset Priorities

Agent Comment French German English Multilingual CDNs Call Priorities

A1 FR Only 1 0 0 0 123French 1

A2 FR & ENG 1 0 2 0 123French 1123English 2

A3 FR & ENG 1 0 2 0 123French 1123English 2

A4 GER & ENG 0 1 2 0 123German 1123English 2



A7 ENG Only 0 0 1 0 123English 1



A10 FR, GER & ENG 1 2 3 4 123French 123German 2123English 2

A11 FR, GER & ENG 2 1 3 4 123French 1123German 2123English 2

Contact center skillset—Agent assignment chart

Agents that are A1,A2,A3 A4, A5, A6, A2, A3, A4,A5, A10, A11members of A10, A11 A10, A11 A6, A7, A8, A9, the skillset A10, A11

Skillset French German English Multilingual

CDN 123French 123German 123English


Report generation andconfigurationSymposium Express Call Center users canschedule and define reports. ChoosingReports from the drop-down menu in theSymposium Express Call Center mainwindow presents the following list ofreports to the supervisor or manager thatcan be modified, printed, or scheduled torun at a particular time.

Note: Because the generation of reportsuses the Crystal Reports runtime engineinstalled on the PC client, it is necessaryto have the PC that scheduled the reportpowered on at the time the report issupposed to be printed.

The following reports are provided forsupervisors:

• Application by Activity Code

• Application Call Treatment

• Application Delay Before Abandon

• Application Delay Before Answer

• Application Performance

• Activity Code by Application

• Agent by Application Performance

• Skillset Performance

• Agent Performance

• Agent By Skillset Performance

• Agent Performance By Supervisor

• Agent DN Performance

• Agent Short Calls

• Agent Average Calls per Hour

• Agent First Login/Last Logout

• Estimated Revenue by Agent

• Activity Code by Agent

• Trunk Performance

• Route Performance

• DNIS Statistics

• CDN Statistics

• Database View Definitions

• Music/RAN Route Statistics

• Agent NACD Activity

• Agent Transferred/Conferenced Activity

Dashed line indicatescalls are initially

queued to this skillset

Call Flow

Solid line indicatescalls later queued to

this additional skillset(overflow)

Customer callsentering the call

center

PSTN

Scenarios

1. Agents Idle—Call enters contact center on DN 123German, call is presented to agents in skillset German. Either agent A4 or A6 will get the

call because they have the highest skillset priority. The longer idle of these two will receive the call.

2. All Agents Busy—Call enters contact center on DN 123German, call is queued to skillset German (as before), call then overflows, and is

now queued to skillsets German and Multilingual. The call will now be answered by first available agent in either of these two skillsets.

The call priority is 1 in the German skillset and 2 in the Multilingual skillset.

3. If call is waiting in queue per condition 2 above and a call is received on DN 123French, it is queued to both French and Multilingual

skillsets at call priority 1. This call jumps ahead of all priority 2 calls in the Multilingual queue.

4. If a call enters on DN 123French, it will be answered by agents in the French or Multilingual skillsets. No other agents will receive a French

originating call.

5. If there are no agents logged in skillset German, then calls will be answered by agents logged into the Multilingual skillset. If there are no

agents logged into the German or Multilingual skillset, then calls originating from 123German will not be answered until an agent logs

into either skillset.


BackupWhen the user invokes the Backup fromthe drop-down menu on the SymposiumExpress Call Center main window, thefollowing dialog box is displayed.

If the user presses the Start button and abackup is not already in progress, thenSymposium Express Call Center will startthe online backup process as it exists inRelease 4.2. If a backup is already inprogress, the Start button is disabled(greyed out).

Server specifications• For server and operating system require-

ments, refer to the current version of theNortel Networks Customer Contact andSelf-Service Solutions SymposiumPortfolio Server and Operating SystemRequirements.

Meridian 1 and Succession 1000 SwitchConfiguration parserSymposium Express Call Center willprovide the functionality to automaticallyconfigure the system from data down-loaded from the switch. This feature auto-mates the process by parsing the Meridian 1or Succession 1000 configuration data,extracting and interpreting the relevantdata, and then inputting this into theSymposium Express Call Center database.

The Switch Configuration parser is executed,by the Symposium Express Call Centeruser or distributor, after the switch hasbeen configured. It will therefore run inde-pendently of any tools which are in placeto configure the switch. The switch willstill need to be installed and configured inthe same way by a switch technician.

After the switch has been configured,Symposium Express Call Center needs away to download and interpret this config-uration data. The download overlayprograms are already in place in the form

of LD 81, LD 21, and LD 23. These threeoverlay programs will download all therelevant switch configuration data to a textfile which is copied onto a floppy diskette.The user needs to copy this informationfrom the disk onto the SymposiumExpress Call Center server.

Symposium Express CallCenter configuration processThere are two steps in the configurationprocess:

Download process

The data is downloaded from the switchusing the overlay programs into a text filewhich will be transferred to SymposiumExpress Call Center’s server. A terminalemulation program capable of savingdisplay output to a file will be required tocapture the text output from working withthe overlay programs. A PC is expected toconnect to the M1’s administration over-lays via terminal emulation or MAT.

Upload process

This section is subdivided into two parts:

• Switch Parser User Interface

The Symposium Express Call Centerclient will take the user through the stepsinvolved in uploading the configurationdata. The user will therefore be able to goback through the configuration andensure it is correct before finalizing it.

– In the main window, the user pressesthe ‘Import’ button to begin theupload process.

– The user is presented with a standardMicrosoft file browser dialog box inorder to locate the file containing theconfiguration data downloaded fromthe switch.

– The configuration file is opened andthe data is read in.

– The user will be shown screens similar tothe following in order to allow him/herto choose which TNs, for example, shewishes to acquire. Throughout the

Figure 25. Symposium Express Call Center Database Backup


Symposium Express Call Center clientthe lists will by default appear in theExclude list and it is up to the user toadd her choices to the Include list.

– The user is taken through the variousscreens and when the final screen isreached on hitting ‘Finish’, the systemis configured. Each operation in theconfiguration is logged with details ofthe operation performed along withindicators of either success or failure.While this configuration is taking place,the user will be shown a progress bar toindicate how the process is running.

– When the process finishes, theSymposium Express Call Center clientwill automatically launch ‘Notepad’and open the log file for the user. Thelog file is used for the most currentconfiguration only.

• Switch configuration defaults

In the process of configuring theSymposium Express Call Center serverwith the Meridian 1 or Succession 1000resources, defaults are assigned to variousresource attributes as follows:

– Terminal Number (Telephone sets)The Terminal name associated with theTN by the Symposium Express CallCenter server is set to the terminalnumber followed by “-TN”. Forexample, if the TN is 1-2-1-2, then thecorresponding terminal name used bythe Symposium Express Call Centerserver is set to 1-2-1-2-TN.

– CDN (Controlled Directory Number)The CDN name associated with theCDN by the Symposium Express CallCenter server is set to the CDN followedby “-CDN”. For example, if the CDNis 2345, then the corresponding CDNname used by the Symposium ExpressCall Center server is set to 2345-CDN.

– IVR ACD DNThe IVR ACD DN name associatedwith the IVR ACD DN by theSymposium Express Call Center server isset to the DN followed by “-ACDDN”.

For example, if the DN is 2345, thenthe corresponding name used by theSymposium Express Call Center serveris set to 2345-ACDDN.

– RoutesThe route name associated with theroute by the Symposium Express CallCenter server is set to the route numberfollowed by “-ROUTE”. For example,if the route is 700, then the correspon-ding route name used by the SECCserver is set to 700-ROUTE.

Log file reporting

Symposium Express Call Center reportsthe workings of each parse and import tothe user. This will be done by writing eachoperation during the upload to a flat file.The report will contain the success or failureof each operation along with informationabout what happened during the operation,i.e., the semantics of the operation.

The parsing process may need to beperformed a number of times during thecustomer lifetime of Symposium ExpressCall Center. Symposium Express CallCenter must deal with any discrepancieswhich may have arisen over time betweenthe configuration of the switch and thedata which is in the Symposium ExpressCall Center database. An example of this

could be if a user deleted a CDN from theswitch. Now the switch and SymposiumExpress Call Center do not match anymore.

There are three main issues here:

• If configuration data is added to the switch

• Configuration data is deleted from the switch

• The configuration data on the switch has been amended

Numbers 1 and 3 do not present a problemas the configuration data can be down-loaded from the switch and then uploadedto the server again. Symposium ExpressCall Center will then check for new data(CDNs, TNs etc.) and add it to the data-base or check the new data against the datain the database to see if it has been changed.

If data has been deleted on the switch,then Symposium Express Call Centerassumes that the data on the switch iscorrect; for example, if a CDN is deletedfrom the switch then Symposium ExpressCall Center assumes that this CDN is notbeing used anymore and therefore promptsthe user for confirmation that it can bedeleted from the Symposium Express CallCenter database—likewise for TNs andIVR ACD DNs.

Figure 26. Symposium Express Call Center—Meridian Configuration Wizard


Report samples

Activity Code by AgentActivity code statistics provide accounting information based on a combination of activity code, agent, and application call information.This report provides a means to monitor agents’ work time and activity distribution during their working hours. While on a call, agentscan identify the call type by entering one or more activity codes. For example, your contact center can use activity codes to identify callsas sales, service, or support.


Activity Code by ApplicationSymposium Express Call Center automatically creates and names an application for each CDN configured on your system. This reportallows you to monitor activity time for each application on your system. The Activity Code by Application report includes all activitytime and occurrences for an application.


Not Ready Reason Code by AgentThis report allows you to monitor why agents went in the Not Ready state. You can define Not Ready reason codes which agents thenenter when going into Not Ready state.


Agent Average Calls Per HourThis report shows summarized performance information on the calls each agent answered per hour logged on. The report provides threehourly averages for the time logged on: the average calls answered, the average time spent with callers, and the average time spent in NotReady state. This allows managers to detect peculiarities in agent activities like an abnormal amount of not ready time on a specific dayand to investigate the cause.


Agent by Activity Code ReportThis report allows you to monitor each agent’s time and work distribution by the types of calls answered. During calls, agents can identifythe call type by entering one or more activity codes. These codes can identify calls such as sales, service, or different products.


Agent by Skillset Performance ReportThis report shows summarized agent performance data for each skillset under review. The report details performance statistics such astotal number of calls answered, total amount of time spent servicing contact center callers, and average call length. This report is an indi-cator of agent performance within a skillset. It helps managers identify agents who are having difficulty with a specific skill and may needadditional training or coaching.


Agent DN Performance ReportThis report shows the amount of time agents spend on their personal directory numbers. The report records incoming and outgoinginformation, including the total number of DN calls and the average amount of time spent on DN calls. The report also comparesinternal and external DN activity.


Agent Login/Logout ReportThis report shows login, logout, walkaway, and return from walkaway occurrences for each agent. The report also shows the times atwhich these events occur. This report shows how much time agents spent at their stations each day, perhaps to help payroll determinehours worked.


Agent Performance by Supervisor ReportThis report shows summarized agent performance information grouped by assigned supervisors. This report shows call totals, the amountof time agents spend in certain states, and time averages.


Agent Short Call ReportThis report shows summarized short call performance, grouping the data into supervisor and agent summaries. A short call is an incomingcall that lasts less than 10 seconds. A short call can occur when an agent inadvertently presses the wrong button on the telephone set, forexample, and helps indicate when agents need more coaching.


Agent Transferred/Conferenced Activity ReportThis report shows detailed statistics about calls transferred or conferenced by agents. The report provides summarized totals for the timeperiod under review. This report helps identify agents who may have difficulty with a specific skill. It can also highlight agents who mayneed additional coaching.


Agent Call Treatment ReportThis report shows summary performance information about the handling of each call associated with a particular application. The reportdisplays multiple treatments that can occur within the call script or application. The report records the number of calls the system answered,abandoned, routed, and disconnected. This report measures other treatments within the call script, including commands such as Give ForceBusy, Give Route To, or Give Force Disconnect. You can keep count of the number of callers who receive a specific treatment and service.


Application Delay Before Abandon ReportThis report gauges service quality by indicating how many callers disconnect (abandon) before reaching an agent. The spectrum showshow long callers typically wait before abandoning, whether they abandon before or after reaching the service level threshold, and thepercentage of calls abandoned. With a greater awareness of customer tolerance levels, contact center managers can adjust call routing toprovide quicker service, offer recorded announcements more frequently, offer callers the option to access an interactive voice responsesystem, or add agents to improve service levels.


Cross Tab—Application Performance ReportThis report provides you with an at-a-glance view of application performance (calls answered, calls abandoned, calls offered) for severaldays. You can use this report to compare application performance for the same reporting period on different days.


Configuration ReportConfiguration Reports provide the following information: supervisor properties, skillset properties, CDN properties, Route properties,IVR properties, and port properties.


Database View Definition ReportThis report generates a complete list of the database views available in the Symposium Express Call Center database. You can use theseviews to define user created reports. For each database view, the report lists the fields in the view. For each field, the report provides thefield type and length.


IVR Queue Statistics ReportThis report shows summarized statistical information grouped by IVR queue. The report details the performance of IVR queues, and isespecially useful for understanding call volume and delays callers may have experienced when attempting to access the IVR system.


DNIS Statistics ReportThis report summarizes the total call volume to each DNIS number. The report lists the total calls answered, total caller wait time, totalcalls abandoned, and the percentage of calls that abandon after a wait greater than or equal to the service level threshold defined for theDNIS. You can use this report to track call handling performance on products or services associated with a particular DNIS number.


Music/RAN Route Statistics ReportThis report shows information about music and recorded announcement (RAN) routes. For each route, the report provides the number ofroute accesses and the route access time. This report can help you spot any routes that may be overloaded.


Cross Tab—Skillset Performance ReportThis report provides you with an at-a-glance view of skillset performance (calls offered, calls answered, and skillset calls abandoned) forseveral days. You can use this report to compare skillset performance for the same reporting period for several days.


Skillset by Application ReportThis report shows summarized skillset statistics for each application under review. This report provides statistics such as the total numberof calls answered for each skillset and the number of calls answered after the service level threshold for each skillset.


GlossaryACD-DN—An ACD-DN is a directorynumber in the Meridian 1 that is used toimplement automatic call distribution.When a call presented to the Meridian 1 isassociated with an ACD-DN, the call isplaced into a queue or “lineup” where itwill wait until answered. If an agent isavailable, the call may be presenteddirectly to the agent. If an agent is notavailable, the call may be presented withrecorded announcements and music untilit can be answered by an agent.

Activity codes—Activity codes are numer-ical codes entered by an agent using thetelephone keypad while on an incomingskillset or ACD call, which indicate thetype of service or transaction the callentails. Multiple codes can be enteredduring a single call.

Administrator—An administrator config-ures and manages a contact center andtypically requires a PC for administrationpurposes. It is unlikely that an adminis-trator would be called upon to answer callsand, therefore, the administrator wouldnot be required to have an agent-typetelephone set.

Agent management—Agent managementdescribes the ability to configure, manage,and report on agent activities.

Agent-skillset assignment—WithSymposium Express Call Center, agentsare assigned to answer calls according totheir abilities or skillsets. Agents can beassigned to answer calls for up to 50different skillsets or call types.

Agent-supervisor assignment—Agentscan be assigned a primary and secondarysupervisor. The primary supervisor assign-ment is used when an agent requires assis-tance with a call and presses the Supervisorkey. The primary and secondary supervisorassignment allows the agent to be monitoredin real-time displays by both supervisor types.

Agents—Contact center employees whoanswer incoming calls are called agents.Working at an answering position, agentsshould be equipped with all of the informa-tion required to complete caller transactions,typically a telephone set and computer toprocess caller requests.

Client—A client is a PC that is connectedto a Local Area Network. In the SymposiumExpress Call Center, an example of a clientis a supervisor’s workstation.

Control Directory Number (CDN)—AControl Directory Number is a numberwhich is configured in the Meridian 1PBX as the entry point for calls into theSymposium Express Call Center. Therecan be multiple CDNs configured in theMeridian 1 PBX, all of which can beassociated with the master script.

Dialed Number Identification Service(DNIS)—Dialed Number IdentificationService provides the contact center withthe last several digits of the number dialedby the caller. Calls can be distinguished byDNIS numbers when they enter SymposiumExpress Call Center and can be routed tospecific skillsets based on the numberdialed by the customer.

Interactive Voice Rresponse (IVR)—Interactive Voice Response (IVR) providesan automated method of accepting andfurnishing information to and from a callerby using computer controlled voice play-back to prompt for telephone or voice input.

Local Area Network—A Local AreaNetwork (LAN) is a data network thatconnects computers, modems, and printers.A LAN is usually used within a building.

Meridian 1—Meridian 1 is the businesscommunications system, or Private BranchExchange (PBX), that receives all telephonecalls and manages the appropriate onesusing the Symposium Express Call Center.

Meridian Link Services—Nortel NetworksMeridian Link Services integrate theMeridian 1 PBX with computer systems tosupport computer telephony integration.The capability is integral to SymposiumExpress Call Center.

Node—A node is a location within anetwork of Meridian 1 PBXs.

Open Database Connectivity—OpenDatabase Connectivity (ODBC) is astandard universal data access interface.

Personal directory number—A personaldirectory number may be configured onagent telephone sets to allow agents toplace or receive calls. Agents may use theirpersonal directory numbers to call back acustomer or receive a call from a fellowemployee who is not part of the contactcenter.

Private Branch Exchange—A PrivateBranch Exchange, or PBX, is a telephonesystem usually located on the premises of a business. It provides an intermediateswitching point between a central officeand an end user.

Server—A server is a PC that can vary insize and power, from a simple desktop PCto a high-powered centrally located PCconnected to a data network. The serverstores information that can be accessed bymultiple clients within the network.


Skill-based routing—Offers advanced callrouting and treatment based on therequirements of a call(er) and the skillsetof available agents.

Skillset—A skillset is a label that isapplied to a collection of abilities or theknowledge of something, such as aproduct or department, which may berequired of an agent to handle a given call.Skillsets are associated with calls to deter-mine the requirement of the caller.Skillsets are assigned to agents, whichqualifies them to handle calls with specificskillset requirements.

Structured Query Language—StructuredQuery Language (SQL) is a standardlanguage that allows data to be extractedfrom database files.

Succession 1000—Succession 1000 is arobust, reliable, and fully-distributed IPprivate branch exchange (PBX) solutionthat allows customers to maximize theirwide (WAN) and local area network (LAN)investments by converging voice and datawhile optimizing business-critical applica-tions and features. It receives all telephonecalls and manages the appropriate onesusing the Symposium Express Call Center.

Supervisors—Contact center supervisorsmanage and monitor agent and contactcenter performance. They require a PC todisplay information and make necessarychanges to the contact center environment.Supervisors may be called on to answercalls and service emergency requests from agents.

Trunk—A trunk is the physical linkbetween a central office (the telephonecompany) and a PBX that makes telephonecommunications possible.

Trunks may be categorized according tothe switching systems they connect. Forexample, tie trunks connect two PBXs, andcentral office trunks connect a PBX to thetelephone company’s central office switch.

Trunk route—In the Meridian 1 PBX,trunks with similar characteristics aregrouped together to form trunk routes.Trunk route reports can detail statisticsabout customer service levels to betterdetermine if service goals are being met.

Voice ports—Voice ports refer to theconnection points within the PBX thatcan support either analog or digital devicesused by voice processing systems.

Voice processing—Voice processing capa-bilities provide integrated use of voicesystems within call scripts.

Voice prompts—Voice prompts are phrasesspoken to callers in an effort to give informa-tion to a caller and to obtain informationfrom the caller.


Index

AActivity Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Agent and Supervisor Management . . . 7Agent Observe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Agent Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Agent Priority Within Skillset . . . . . . . 15Agent Queuing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Agent Queuing Versatility . . . . . . . . . . 15Agent Telephone Set Features . . . . . . . . 7Answer Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Answer Emergency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Automatic Answer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

BBreaktime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

CCall Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Call Priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Call Queuing Versatility . . . . . . . . . . . 15Call Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

DDisplay Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Display Waiting Calls . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 10

EEmergency Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

IIndividual Agent Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

MMake Busy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

NNot Ready . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

PPriority assignments for calls and agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

RReturn To Queue On No Answer . . . . . 7

SSkillsets and Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Supervisor Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Supervisor telephone set features . . . . . . 9

Nortel Networks is an industry leader and innovator focused on transforming how the worldcommunicates and exchanges information. The company is supplying its service provider andenterprise customers with communications technology and infrastructure to enable value-added IP data, voice and multimedia services spanning Wireless Networks, Wireline Networks, EnterpriseNetworks, and Optical Networks. As a global company, Nortel Networks does business in more than150 countries. More information about Nortel Networks can be found on the Web at:

www.nortelnetworks.comFor more information, contact your Nortel Networks representative, or call 1-800-4 NORTEL or 1-800-466-7835 from anywhere in North America.

*Nortel Networks, the Nortel Networks logo, the globemark design, CallPilot, Meridian Mail, Meridian, DMS, Symposium and Succession are trademarks of Nortel Networks. All other trademarks are the property of their owners.

Copyright © 2004 Nortel Networks. All rights reserved. Information in this document is subject to change without notice.Nortel Networks assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document.

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